The former director of the National Intelligence Center, Félix Sanz Roldán, has stated before the National Court that the CNI was not involved in the so-called Operation Kitchen, the parallel police operation that spied on former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas. The appearance aims to clarify whether the intelligence services provided technical support for this operation, which took place between 2013 and 2015.
Digital surveillance: the debate on the use of intelligence tools 🛡️
Sanz Roldán's denial reopens the discussion on the control of communication interception tools. In the field of cybersecurity, IMSI catcher systems and software for extracting data from mobile terminals require specific judicial authorization. If the CNI did not participate, the technical question is who facilitated access to Bárcenas' data without leaving a trace in official records. The traceability of surveillance operations remains a blind spot in many investigations.
The CNI: we weren't there, but someone copied the spy manual 🤔
That a former CNI director has to clarify that his agents were not involved in a homegrown spying operation is like a computer scientist swearing they didn't install the keylogger on their neighbor's computer. The perfect excuse: the CNI did not participate, but someone must have read the intelligence manuals very well. Perhaps the real mystery is not who spied, but who left the instruction manual in the ministry's photocopier.